222 
WERNERIAN SYSTEM. 
Inference of 
De Saussure, 
that great diis- 
locations have 
taken place.- 
Lapeyronse, 
thinks they 
could not have 
been sudden; 
What power 
did effect 
these ? 
of vast changes of position in the strata of the globe in general, 
was such, that afterwards, on the summit of Mont-Blanc, where 
the strata are vertical, “ placed as he now was,” to use the 
words of Mr. Playfair, “ on one of the highest summits of the 
earth’s surface, he formed the bold conception, that the summit 
on which he was standing had been once buried under the 
surface, to the depth at least of one half the diameter of the 
mountain*.’’ The strata of Mont-Blauc, however, are en- 
tirely crystalline, and therefore, on Werner’s principles may 
have been originally much inclined ; but a philosopher so 
cautious as Saussure would hardly have ventured to speculate 
so boldly as he did, in the present instance, if the facts on 
•which he rested were not correctly ascertained ; and if the 
observations be accurate, the strata at Valorrine must have been 
acted on as he supposest.” 
It ought, however, to be noticed, on the other side of the 
question on the elevation of strata, that Lapeyrouse has stared, 
among his “ conclusions,” from observations on the structure 
of the Pyrenees, that the appearances of these rnountains do 
not allow the supposition, that any sudden or irregular move- 
ment had elevated strata originally horizontal^.” 
But if this elevation be admitted, it will next be asked, what 
power is sufficient to have produced this mighty change ? Here, 
however, it seems better to stop, and acknowledge, with Saus- 
sure§, that we can, at present, go no further than by attempting 
to account for these appearances, to pass into the regions of un- 
* Illustrations, § 296. — Saussure, $ 199. 
+ It has, indeed, been denied, on the authority of Friesleben, that 
the beds in question do really consist of pudding-stone, and the masses 
whieh Saussure considered as imbedded, are asserted to be of contem- 
poraneous formation with the part in which they occur. But where 
there is a question of authority, \ve cannot hesitate to adhere to that 
of Saussure ; nor arc we confined to this particular instance for evi- 
dence upon the point at issue. 
J Journal des Mines, No. 37, p.66. 
^ Voyages, $ 690. 
mpported 
